Re: [PATCH] usb: phy: Initialize struct usb_phy list_head

[Diogo Ivo]

On 11/21/25 14:09, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 02:59:06PM +0000, Diogo Ivo wrote:
> > When executing usb_add_phy() and usb_add_phy_dev() it is possible that
> > usb_add_extcon() fails (for example with -EPROBE_DEFER), in which case
> > the usb_phy does not get added to phy_list via
> > list_add_tail(&x->head, phy_list).
> >
> > Then, when the driver that tried to add the phy receives the error
> > propagated from usb_add_extcon() and calls into usb_remove_phy() to
> > undo the partial registration there will be an unconditional call to
> > list_del(&x->head) which is notinitialized and leads to a NULL pointer
> > dereference.
> >
> > Fix this by initializing x->head before usb_add_extcon() has a chance to
> > fail.
> >
> > Fixes: 7d21114dc6a2d53 ("usb: phy: Introduce one extcon device into usb phy")
> > Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Signed-off-by: Diogo Ivo <diogo.ivo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> >   drivers/usb/phy/phy.c | 4 ++++
> >   1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/usb/phy/phy.c b/drivers/usb/phy/phy.c
> > index e1435bc59662..5a9b9353f343 100644
> > --- a/drivers/usb/phy/phy.c
> > +++ b/drivers/usb/phy/phy.c
> > @@ -646,6 +646,8 @@ int usb_add_phy(struct usb_phy *x, enum usb_phy_type type)
> >   		return -EINVAL;
> >   	}
> >   
> > +	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&x->head);
> > +
> >   	usb_charger_init(x);
> >   	ret = usb_add_extcon(x);
> >   	if (ret)
> > @@ -696,6 +698,8 @@ int usb_add_phy_dev(struct usb_phy *x)
> >   		return -EINVAL;
> >   	}
> >   
> > +	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&x->head);
> > +
> >   	usb_charger_init(x);
> >   	ret = usb_add_extcon(x);
> >   	if (ret)
>
> Shouldn't you be also removing an existing call to INIT_LIST_HEAD()
> somewhere?  This is not "moving" the code, it is adding it.

From my understanding that's exactly the problem, currently there is no
call to INIT_LIST_HEAD() anywhere on these code paths, meaning that if
we do not reach the point of calling list_add_tail() at the end of
usb_add_phy() and usb_phy_add_dev() then x->head will remain uninitialized
and fault when running usb_remove_phy().

Best regards,
Diogo

> thanks,
>
> greg k-h